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The Metaphysical Review 22/23 The Metaphysical Review 22/23 November 1995 84 pages The People Issue The People Who Started It All Race Mathews People in the Seventies Sally Yeoland and John Bangsund People: Incidents and Accidents Terry Frost, Gerald Murnane, Don Ashby People: Life and Times Shayne McCormack, Henry Gasko, Dave Piper, John Brosnan, Robert Day, Mark Lawson, Jeanne Mealy, Caseyjnne Wolf People Missing in Action: Memories of Lost Friends and Relatives Bruce Gillespie, John Brosnan, Andy Sawyer, Jeanne Mealy, Paul Anderson, Mae Strelkov, Mark Loney, Chris Chittieburgh, Ben Indick, Doug Barbour, Henry Gasko, John Newman, David Lake (■ j in co co o Z $ 1 i The Metaphysical Review 22/23 November 1995 84 pages THE METAPHYSICAL REVIEW No. 22/23, November 1995, is edited and published by Bruce Gillespie, 59 Keele Street, Collingwood, Victoria 3066, Australia (ph: (03) 9419-4797). Printed by Copy Placed Melbourne. Available for subscriptions (SA25 within Australia, equivalent of SA35 (airmail) overseas), written or graphic contributions, traded publications, or donations. All cheques to ‘Bruce Gillespie’. ART AU photographs processed by Ellikon Printers. Front cover: (Left to right) Leigh Edmonds, Lee Harding, Sally Yeoland, John Bangsund at Aussiecon I, 1975. Photo by Kelvin Roberts (?), as for p. 36. Interior photographs: Elaine Cochrane (p. 4); David Parker (p. 6); Lee Harding (p. 13); unknown (pp. 17, 22), John Bangsund (p. 31),John Litchen (pp. 24 and 35). Graphics: Terry Frost (pp. 45-51), Ditmarjenssen (pp. 64 and 71). EDITORIAL & FAREWELLS LIFE, LOVE AND FANDOM IN THE SEVENTIES 3, 67 I MUST BE TALKING TO MY FRIENDS 17 SALLY AND JOHN: THE EARLY YEARS Bruce Gillespie Sally Yeoland, Marie Maclean with large sections of the writing of Philip Hodgins John Bangsund John Brosnan Andy Sawyer Jeanne Mealy CONSTANTINOPLE, Melbourne, Easter 1994 Paul Anderson THYLACON, Hobart, 10-12 June 1995 Mae Strelkov 45 FOUR DAYS IN ANOTHER CON. Mark Loney FOUR DAYS IN THE LAND OF THE Chris Chittieburgh ANTHROPOPHAGI Ben Indick Terry Frost Doug Barbour Henry Gasko John Newman TWO GREAT FALLS David Lake 52 THE FALLING Gerald Murn an e BEGINNINGS OF 54 THROUGH A FALSE CEILING THE MELBOURNE SCIENCE FICTION CLUB Don Ashby 5 WHIRLAWAY TO THRILLING WONDER STORIES: FEATURE LETTERS BOYHOOD READING IN WARTIME AND 56 LIFE AND TIMES POSTWAR MELBOURNE Shayne McCormack Race Mathews Henry Gasko Dave Piper John Brosnan Robert Day Mark Lawson Jeanne Mealy Casey June Wolf 2 I Must Be Talking to My Friends BRUCE GILLESPIE Happy birthday, Brian MARIE MACLEAN Happy birthday, Brian Aldiss. I read about this PHILIP HODGINS occasion in Locus. This issue is my birthday card. JOHN BROSNAN I guess you’re as surprised to reach the age of ANDY SAWYER 70 as I was to reach the age of 48 in February this JEANNE MEALY year. That’s not what it says inside my head. The real PAUL ANDERSON me is always 26, or perhaps younger. What age is MAE STRELKOV the real Brian Aldiss? I think of you as in your late MARK LONEY thirties, matching the first pictures I saw of you, on those early Faber & Faber hardbacks. Or CHRIS CHITTLEBURGH perhaps at the age of 49, the age you were when BEN INDICK we met in England in early 1974. But 49 is the DOUG BARBOUR age I turn next year! HENRY GASKO The 70-year-old Brian Aldiss seems as cheerful and delighted by life as ever. *My best years have JOHN NEWMAN really been in my 60s,’ you say (Locus 416, Sep­ DAVID LAKE tember 1995, p. 85). There’s a kind of Plimsoll line in life ... It came to me when I was 50. It suddenly dawned on me I’m never going to direct a movie! I’m never gonna fly a big transatlantic plane ... It also dawned on me that in fact these Spot the boo-boo negatives were positives. All these things were Elaine did not proofread TMR 19/20/21, boyhood fantasies, and if you get rid of them, you therefore the issue is riddled with boo-boos. cure yourself not of disillusionment — you cure The very worst mistake appears on the yourself of illusion, and you curtail your expecta­ cover, and in several places in the text. Roger tion . you think, “Jesus, life is wonderful! How Weddall was not bom in 1953, but in 1956. did I do this?” ’ He met Walt Willis at MagiCon. not Con­ That’s only a selection from this wonderful spiracy. page of Aldissisms — the essence of the person I And, of course, my postcode is now 3066, would like to have been. He’s also the writer I not 3001, as it says in the colophon. would like to have been: not only for the quality It’s Moor Street, Fitzroy, not Moore Street. of novels like Hothouse, Barefoot in the Head and Forgotten Life, critical work like Trillion Year Spree Cat news and stories like The Worm That Flies’ and The Since No. 19/20/21 was written, the truly Saliva Tree’, but for the sheer variety of work over wonderful Monty died from liver cancer. At more than 40 years. first we thought we could never replace him. Happy birthday, Brian! It seemed that Sophie would kill any at­ tempted intruder. When four kittens were dumped on us at the beginning of 1995, The fast forward button Elaine found homes for three of them on the VCR of life (thanks, Alan and Judy, and LynC and Clive). We hired a large cage, in which the fourth kitten, Polly, lived until the other cats were Every optimistic Aldiss has to be balanced by a used to her. Polly, a grey kitten with prob­ pessimistic Gillespie. And Gillespie at 48-nearly- lems with one of her eyes (hence Polyphemus 49 feels that he’s well and truly reached the = Polly), is no fool. She set out to charm Plimsoll line of life when all the illusions have Sophie, and succeeded, and soon charmed disappeared. Truth to tell, I can't see myself doing all the others except Theodore. Theodore any of the things I’d really like to be doing, does not like rival prima donnas. although I’m the first to admit I've achieved many things I never imagined myself doing. I had the 3 For more than 25 years. I’ve used this column as a diary of the events in the Life of Bruce. I can’t do that any more. There are hardly any events to write about. Somebody seems to have pushed the fast forward button on the VCR of life. My 1995 was divided into two sections — two large textbooks I was desktop-publishing — sepa­ rated by short ‘holidays’ in which I tried to finish this issue. Elaine has been working almost non­ stop. editing at home, so we haven’t taken a holiday away from home for five years. I’ve seen few films at the cinema. I’ve been to five concerts in the last two years, and we’ve even cut back on our restaurant outings. The highlights of these years have been the CDs I’ve listened to, the books I’ve read, the films I’ve watched, dinners with friends. Nova Mob meetings, a monthly film­ watching gathering, local Neighbourhood Watch meetings, the arrival of Polly the kitten, letters I’ve received (more than 50 per cent response rate on TMR 19/20/21), and three conventions (Constan­ tinople, ANZAPACon and Arcon), two of which were unashamedly devoted to nostalgia. It’s been a good life, but nothing much to write about. Nearly two years later, I cannot remember a great deal about being one of the Fan Guests of Honour at Constantinople (Easter 1994). It was very enjoyable. Being a Guest of Honour gave me a chance to meet people I’d heard about but never set eyes on. I got some idea of the complex pattern that is Australian fandom these days. And it was a wonderful surprise to receive a Ditmar for Best Fan Writer at the end of it all. (The battle between Terry Frost and me for Best Fan Writer Ditmar is told in Terry’s articles.) A still from the VCR of life: Thanks to Perry Middlemiss and Marc Ortlieb, Bruce Gillespie at the beginning of 1995, the two most visible organisers of ANZAPAcon plus Polly, who is now much larger. (October 1993) and Arcon (September 1993). There seem to be hundreds of media conventions each year in Australia, so we old farts struck back. Justin Semmel, at the age of 30 or so, was the youngest person at ANZAPACon, which cele­ brated 25 years of Australia’s oldest and best- established amateur publishing association. The highlight of that convention was yarning to Gary Mason, who has mellowed even more than I have. Arcon was designed to celebrate 20 years since Aussiecon I (the World Convention held in Mel­ bourne in 1975) and ten years since Aussiecon II unbelievable luck to live in Australia during the (1985, the second time the World Convention second half of the twentieth century. 1 had the came to Melbourne). Like ANZAPAcon, it had an unbelievable luck to find Elaine for my life's part­ ideal size (100-150 attendees), and brought to­ ner. I'm one of the few people still making a living gether people who remember when Australian from something I'm good at. fandom was one group, before it split into splinter But I’ve never been able to earn a living from groups. Lots of nostalgic slides, a showing of the any activity that really satisfies me.
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